The very hot weather of last summer along with the effects of both SARS and the war in Iraq on foreign travel have been blamed for falling visitor numbers reported by members of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA).

Of the five most popular attractions last year, all are free to enter, but only one, the Science Museum, saw an increase in visitor numbers.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach was the most popular attraction in Britain last year with 6.2 million visits in 2003, down 3.5 per cent on 2002.

The British Museum was second most popular with 4.5 million visits – a drop of 0.5 per cent.

Tate Modern received 3.9 million visitors, down 16 per cent; the Natural History Museum received 3 million, down 3 per cent and the Science Museum received 2.9 million visitors, up 6 per cent.

The Eden project saw the biggest fall of the top attractions – 19 per cent – down to 1.4 million visitors.

Director of ALVA, Robin Broke, said: “Last year started strongly, but the impossibly hot summer meant visitor numbers fell.

“However, one year does not constitute a trend so we must wait and see what figures are like if we have another hot season."

The Museum of Liverpool Life saw the greatest percentage increase in visitors of ALVA members, with 40 per cent growth to 352,000 visitors. This is attributed to increased interest in the city in advance of its being European Capital of Culture 2008.

The Imperial War Museum North saw the greatest fall, of 55 per cent, down to 305,000 visitors, which Broke said is simply a natural settling down after the boom in visitors for the first two years of its operation.

The most popular attractions charging for entrance were The Tower of London (at seventh most popular overall, with 2 million visitors), the Eden Project (eighth), Legoland Windsor (ninth, with 1.3 million visitors) Edinburgh Castle (eleventh, with 1.2 million visitors) and Kew Gardens (thirteenth, with just over a million visitors).

“There is a lot of optimism within the industry for 2004,” said Broke. “The public are more robust and recover more and more quickly from world crises, so we are confident people will continue to visit our world-class attractions.”